Islamabad. PHOTO: EXPRESS
According to the bill, the parliament has been empowered to oversee all the rules of the club.
Committee member Ali Nawaz Awan expressed displeasure over the absence of the cabinet secretary in the meeting and threatened to walk out from the meeting held at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Aminul Haq on Tuesday.
Awan was irked at the absence of cabinet secretary and said that this was the fifth time when he had asked from the secretary about quota for residents of federal capital in government jobs, but the secretary did not bother to attend the meeting. He added that they had to wait an entire month for the meeting but the secretary did not show up.
The member warned that he would walk out of the meeting if the practice continued and demanded the committee chairman to bind the secretary for attending the meetings.
MNA Amjad Ali Khan presented Islamabad Club Administration Amended Bill 2019, before the committee which was approved. According to the bill, the parliament has been empowered to oversee all the rules of the club.
The committee was informed about projects related to the restoration of areas affected in the 2005 earthquake. ERRA officials told the NA panel that as many as 10,847 projects had been completed so far however there were 1,630 projects which could not be initiated owing to different reasons.
Moreover, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Chairman Uzma Adil Khan informed the committee that daily consumption of petrol and diesel in the country was 20,000 and 18,000 metric tonnes respectively while at the moment, the country has seven days’ remaining reserves of both fuels.
Senate panel passes FGEHA bill
Private land should not be acquired by force at officially dictated rates to develop government schemes, rather the owners should be paid the market price for their property, said Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Woks Chairman Senator Mir Kabeer Ahmed Muhammad Shahi.
He said this during a discussion on Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) Bill, 2019, in the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works held under his chair at the Parliament House on Tuesday.
The committee passed the bill with a majority vote after the secretary of the Housing and Works Ministry assured of making changes in certain clauses in accordance with the committee’s directions.
The meeting was attended by Senators Naseebullah Bazai, Lt Gen (retd) Salahuddin Tirmizi, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasar, Molana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Dr Asad Ashraf, Khanzada Khan, Bahramand Khan Tangi, and Anwar Lal Dean along with other related officials.
At the outset of the meeting, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Azam Khan Swati presented the bill which was reviewed thoroughly by the committee members.
The bill was tabled by Swati during Senate session on September 3 on behalf of Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema. It was referred to the committee for further deliberations on it.
The bill suggests establishing the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority for the purpose of planning and development of housing schemes for serving and retired federal government employees and other specified groups.
Regarding FGEHA Bill, 2019, housing and works secretary informed the committee that the same bill had been presented before the committee twice already and has been reviewed in detail.
At this, the committee chairman said the biggest issue was the acquisition of private land. Shahi said private land should not be acquired forcibly from owners on rates set by the deputy commissioner (DC) rates while the land value should be set in accordance with market rates.
Highlighting other clauses, Shahi said that the secretary should be a member of the authority instead of the housing and works director general (DG).
Moreover, the authority should be exempted from all kinds of taxes, Shahi said. At this, the housing and works secretary assured that the bill would be amended in compliance with the committee’s directions.
Senators Bazai, Lt Gen (retd) Trimzi, Sardar Nasir, Maulana Haidri, Dr Ashraf and Mirza Afridi voted in favour of the bill. Senators Tangi and Lal Deen opposed the bill. However, the legislative proposal was approved with a majority vote. FGEHA Chief Executive Officer Waseem Hayat Bajwa and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2019.
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